Sleep is important for your overall wellbeing, but it’s also vital for your weight loss results too. According to wellness experts, getting the right amounts of sleep every night is just as important as portion control and other factors, when it comes to losing weight. Dr Cindy Parnes, a Montvale-based weight loss specialist, explains, ‘The sleep and weight connection has different facets. There’s the impact on your lifestyle and on your body’s hormone functions.’
So why do you need your seven to nine hours, instead of, say, five or six? Melissa Buczek-Kelly, a registered dietician with Right Start Nutrition in Wayne and Hoboken, says that when you don’t get enough sleep, your amount of ghrelin (a hunger hormone that signals your body that it’s time to eat) increases: ‘You’re hungry all the time,’ she notes. ‘You’ll end up reaching for foods or drinks you normally wouldn’t, or get a large coffee instead of a small. If you’re constantly hungry you’re going to want to keep eating.’
Dr Lisa Heuer, a New York-based doctor who specialises in weight management, adds that other hormones in your body play an intrinsic role in your weight control. Along with ghrelin, there’s leptin (a hormone that tells your body you’re full and should stop eating), cortisol (which aids in breaking up fats and carbohydrates), and insulin (which regulates blood sugar). Heuer explains, ‘Sleep is so critical in resetting these hormones. If a patient is a normal weight and find themselves gaining weight, some of it can likely be attributed to lack of sleep. Less sleep means your body isn’t breaking down fat during the night.’
So is getting the right amount of sleep all there is to it, or is there more you can do to boost your results? According to Buczek-Kelly, you can help your body even more by preparing it for sleep with foods rich in vitamin B12. These foods, such as tuna, salmon, milk or cereals with a B12 supplement, cause the secretion of melatonin, a natural hormone that regulates your sleep cycle.
Parnes adds that paying attention to your eating habits, such as grabbing unhealthy snacks throughout the day or find yourself too tired to cook a nutritious meal or go to the gym, can help you determine if you need to get more sleep. ‘Lack of sleep has a very individual effect on everyone, so the best thing is to pay attention to how your sleep affects your lifestyle the next day and if you’re doing things that could contribute to weight gain,’ she says.
Comments are closed.